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Best buys in housing: The most affordable housing in the...

December 05, 1996

Best buys in housing: The most affordable housing in the nation's four regions last summer was found in Jamestown, N.Y.; Davenport, Iowa; Melbourne, Fla.; and Bakersfield, Calif. The National Association of Home Builders said that Jamestown, a western New York area near the Pennsylvania border, topped its Housing Opportunity Index during the July-September quarter. But, as usual, San Francisco was at the bottom of the list of 174 metropolitan markets, a position it has held since the association began the quarterly surveys in early 1991. Higher mortgage rates reduced the national affordability rate to 61.2 during the third quarter, from 63.2 from April through June.